Maynard, MA, USA: Beacon-Villager newspaper column on local history, observations on nature and recreational activities, plus an occasional health-related article. Columns from 2009-11 collected into book "MAYNARD: History and Life Outdoors." Columns from 2012-14 collected into book "Hidden History of Maynard." - David A. Mark

Pages

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Maynard Walking Tours

In 2012 the Maynard Historical Commission, with
the aid of a grant from the Maynard Cultural Council, compiled five self-guided
historic walking tours of Maynard. Each two-page guide can be picked up at Town
Hall or the Maynard Public Library or downloaded as a PDF from
townofmaynard-ma.gov/resources/walkmaynard. There is no app.

Walking Tour #1 (Main
Street and the Mill): For newcomers to town this
stroll along Main, Summer and Nason Streets is
a great way to become familiar with downtown storefronts. Estimated distance is
two miles. Starts and ends at Memorial Park, on Summer Street, with free
parking adjacent in the town's parking structure. Restrooms at various
restaurants en route. What is interesting is leaning how many sites have been repurposed
over the years. At the entrance to #11, look down for evidence that this town
once had a Woolworth's.

Walking Tour #2 (AssabetVillage): Estimated
distance is two miles. Mostly older houses (1830-90). Starts and ends near the
Library, so free parking. This stroll west on Summer Street passes by remnants
of farms (barns, one silo), Victorian era mansions and several repurposed
school and church buildings.

Orthodox Church dedication plaque

The return (eastward) trek on Summer and then Concord
Streets was the line of march for the Stow Minutemen heading toward Concord the morning of
April 19, 1775. Do not miss the blue-domed Holy Annunciation Orthodox Church at
15 Prospect Street.

Walking Tour #3 (New Village and Maynard's Hill): This tour
starts and ends off Main Street, but most of it meanders through what was mill
worker houses constructed circa 1900-1920, on the streets named after
Presidents. Estimated distance is two miles.

Lorenzo Maynard's mansion, built 1873

The first part of the walk ascends Walnut Street and then Dartmouth Street to the site of Lorenzo
Maynard's mansion - still standing but now divided into apartments. A bit
farther along Dartmouth Street (not on the tour) is the site of what was Amory
Maynard's even larger mansion - since burned to the ground and replaced by a
brick apartment building. From this hill father and son could look down on all
they commanded.

Walking Tour #4 (Great
Road): This is actually two walks, each of an
estimated distance of two miles. Together, the tours encompass Route 117 from Erikson's
Ice Cream, near the Stow border, to the Glenwood
and St. Bridget's Cemeteries, near Sudbury.

The Smith family were early settlers along Great Road, which
served as a stagecoach route to points west. Sons and grandsons owned houses,
many still standing. The dam across the AssabetRiver
is the Benjamin Smith Dam because it was his property, sold to Amory Maynard
and William Knight to provide water power for the initial mill.

Town's winter storage crypt

GlenwoodCemetery has a receiving crypt, albeit no longer in use. Frozen ground made digging graves
near-impossible in the years before power equipment. Caskets were parked, so to
speak, in this structure until the spring thaw. Look for a small structure
facing Route 27 with "1888" over the door.

Walking Tour #5 (Assabet River National Wildlife Refuge): ARNWR
can be accessed from five parking areas; one of those, in from the main entrance
off Hudson Road,
is adjacent to the Visitors' Center, which has restroom facilities. Bicycling
is allowed on approximately half of the fifteen miles of paths. No dogs
allowed, nor any motorized vehicles. The Refuge is open from sunrise to sunset,
but the Center's hours are limited to THUR-SUN, 10-4.

All this was active or abandoned farmland until seized by
the U.S. Army in 1942 to be made into an ammunition and explosives storage area.
After the war this site, referred to as the Fort Devens-Sudbury Training Annex,
served as a troop training ground, ordinance testing and laboratory disposal
area. Subsequently, it was designated an Environmental Protection Agency “Superfund”
clean-up site then turned over to the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service in 2000
for a wildlife refuge.